Tourniquets are used to stop uncontrollable bleeding or extremely difficult to control bleeding of an injured person. By using a tourniquet, blood flow to a limb can be stopped by constricting all blood vessels within the limb to which it is applied. Healthcare professionals and other persons who are trained in first aid know that bleeding can be a serious condition, and failing to stem major bleeding can be life-threatening within minutes of injury. Methods other than using tourniquets e.g., applying direct pressure and elevation of a bleeding body part, can often be ineffective in instances of sudden massive bleeding, and the failure to achieve complete cessation of blood flow may result in other adverse effects for a victim including continued bleeding and compartment syndrome (where continued blood flow past an ineffective tourniquet causes “pooling” of blood in an extremity thereby allowing potentially lethal toxins to form within the body). Because of the potential for mortality and morbidity in victims with serious bleeding, it is critical that the tools to create an effective tourniquet are readily available.
Tourniquets typically comprise two parts, a windlass and a constricting band. The constricting band is used for the purpose of narrowing blood vessels such as arteries, veins, capillaries, or pluralities of one or more of them to the point of blocking most or all blood flow. A person who applies the tourniquet, who might or might not be the injured person himself or herself, wraps the constricting band around the injured limb and tightens it.
In order to facilitate the tightening of the constricting band around the limb, often the person applying it will also loop the constricting band around a windlass device. Thus, just prior to constricting the blood vessels in a limb, the constricting band may have a contiguous loop or be modified or tied to form a contiguous loop, i.e., by tying two ends of a piece of fabric or rope. By rotating the windlass, one will introduce twists into the constricting band, thereby causing the portion of the constricting band around the injured limb to tighten and thereby to completely constrict the blood vessels in that limb.
As a practical matter, most persons do not need a tourniquet on most journeys or outings. Consequently, there is a temptation not to bring any device that may be used as a windlass. Unfortunately, too often persons in need of a tourniquet find themselves without easy access to a windlass. The present invention addresses this issue by providing a device that may be used as an effective windlass and that has an additional utilitarian function that increases the likelihood that it will brought on a journey or on an outing.